17 Feb. 2016; San Juan, Puerto Rico.

During the night we sailed the final stretch of the North Atlantic route leading us to our first Caribbean Port of Call, San Juan.  By leaving Grand Turk at 15.00 hrs. we can just make San Juan by 13.00 hrs. Thus the guests do not get all full day here but an afternoon together with an evening. This then complies with the companies’ desire of having at least one evening stay during a cruise. It does not always work out that way for every cruise but whenever possible the company tries to make it work. For this Nieuw Amsterdam cruise it does work and the good ship will sail this evening no earlier than 22.00 hrs. 

That left us with being the last ship in port, as the MSC Davina and the Carnival Dream both pulled out at 17.00 hrs.  I was with the whole class on the bridge and it was interesting to hear the local pilot inquiring if the coffee machine on the MSC Davina had already been repaired as he missed his Cappuccino. I suppose it is a matter of getting your priorities right.

I was on the bridge as we did Touch Drill training. This means that we simulate an emergency and then go through the motions of taking all the correct steps to deal with this emergency. These are called Touch Drills, as it requires the officer to really go through the motions and Touch all the buttons but not really pushing them. Making the round from console to console and from safety station to safety station it is much more realistic than just taking about it.

When you talk about something you have time to think, when an emergency call comes in, you do not have much time to think. You should have a schedule in your head – mental checklist- which you can implement at once.   Then later on (after the first two minutes) you can grab the checklist and verify if you did not forget anything.  The urgency comes from the fact of having to alert so many people. A real fire on board involves at least 150 of a 600 strong crew and to get them going, every second counts and the need of providing the initial information for them to act on, however sparse it still might be, is crucial.

Thus during a touch drill, the officer is forced to think fast, try to build up a mental picture of the local situation and then activate the emergency teams in the correct way with the correct objectives. Not easy at all, because it means knowing your ship exactly; understanding the sort of people who might call and having intimate knowledge of what each emergency team is going to do and how they are supposed to it

This is how my guys felt by the end of the training session.

This is partly different compared to the airline industry where the pilot can reach for a checklist for (nearly) every eventuality. In a way a little bit simpler, not easier as air planes are highly complex, as there are only two pilots, who deal with everything. All the guests are stuck in their seats and can be dealt with by announcements and actions of the stewardesses. On a cruise ship where all on board can be mobile all over the place and with a much more complex layout, not every initial action can be covered by a checklist system. We have too many variables when an initial evolution starts.

Tonight we sail at 22.00 hrs. and then tomorrow we are in St. Thomas where we will arrive at the pilot station at 07.00 hrs. We are expecting warm weather 27oC / 81oF with a strong breeze. And we are lucky, as the next 5 days are supposed to bring rainy weather over the Virgin Island.